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Monday, December 3, 2012

So I recently came across a new blogging block...I ran out of room to upload photos. Well, I finally came up with a solution and I'm up and running again.

Moose received this awesome handmade dollhouse for her 2nd birthday back in August, but grandpa and grandma finally got them to the west coast a few weeks ago. Boy did I forget how big they are! They take up most of the space in her room. She can barely see the top floor!

I've been slowly trying to make some furniture for this doll house. I did some looking online and found a surprising lack of Barbie size furniture tutorials. So I just kind of winged it. I made a blue sink out of a chunk of wood. I carved out a very shallow sink. I also make a stove and that I used a bit more creativity. I found the smallest hinge at the craft store I could find and made it so it could open. Then I glued magnet sheet that I had onto both sides and then colored a turkey and a pie and glued those onto more magnet sheet. So "Cinderbrella" as she is called in our house can do some baking. I have plans for a purple fridge, but I will not get to working on that until after Christmas.

I also made two beds out of some leftover foam from the flower box I made in the beginning of the year. I just wrapped the foam in fabric and hot glued it down. I made the mini quilts and pillows reversible, but Moose likes them like this. The beds are a tad short for the 12 inch dolls, but for the smaller ones they are perfect, so I'll have to get some more foam and make a few more larger beds. I also made a couch out of the leftover foam, but it looks really sad so I didn't take any close up photos of it. I'll have to make a more realistic one sometime in the future.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

November is such a crazy time. There are so many projects that have to be made for birthdays and Christmas. Making things is so much more fun then buying something random. Anyways, I made this cute car roll for Moose's best buddy's 2nd birthday. I'm loving how it came out and her friend has been having a blast putting his hot wheels in the little pockets. So here is how I made it so you can make one too! I don't have photos for every step because Moose was "helping" me the entire time and I couldn't juggle her and a camera very well.

Supplies:

1/4 of a yard of green fabric

1/4 of a yard of some fun print fabric

Batting (about 16 inches by 9 1/2 inches)

5 Pieces of scraps of fabric at are 4 inches by 4 1/2 inches

Felt for roads, dirt, and water (I used the felt rectangle pieces you see everywhere in craft stores)

Bias Tape

Button

Elastic or a hair tie

﻿

Step 1:

Cut 2 16 inch by 9 1/2 inch rectangles. One should be of green fabric and the other a fun print for the outside of your roll. Cut 5 4 inch by 4 1/2 inch rectangles of fun fabric. I went for a rainbow effect.

Step 2:

Sew the 4 inch by 4 1/2 inch squares together to form a strip with a 1/4 seam allowance (I think...I didn't write that down when I was doing it). Fold the top down and sew to make a nice hem so that each color rectangle is actually now a 4 inch square.

Step 3:

Line up the bottom of the strip with the long side of the green fabric and sew. You can kind of see it in the photo on the right. Then sew down the sides of each color square to make nice pockets for the cars.

Step 4:

Make your roads and other elements. I free hand drew them and kind of made it up as I went. You will want your road to be 2 inches wide, but it can be a straight road or a curvy road. Cut some brown blobs for a bumpy dirt road. Make some brown rectangles for a bridge. Finally cut some blue for the pond. I really wanted to add a duck, but I didn't have the time. When you sew the pieces on don't put them to close to the edge or you will not have room for your bias tape.

Step 5:

Layer your top fabric (the one with the stuff on it), the batting underneath it, and the outside fabric (the nice side should face the table) to make a nice sandwich. Yummy. =) Then sew around all 4 side and you can go in about a 1/4 inch to even an 1/2 inch if you have wide enough bias tape to hide it.

Step 6:

The part I always forget to do is sewing down the elastic. To figure where you want it, you have to fold your piece in half and pick a half way between that fold. Or you could just do it 1/4 from the bottom, but I don't think like that. Sew it on really well. Ideally it would be sew on step 5, but why complicate things? =)

Step 7:

Now to figure out where that button goes...load up cars into all the pockets and fold that roll up. Then see where that spot where the elastic would nicely go around a button and mark it. then unroll and sew your button on.

Step 8:

Sew your bias tape around the edge and your roll should be complete!

If you have any questions or I typed something a bit too strangely please let me know! Enjoy your car roll!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

It's another layout with Moose at four months. I realize now I really didn't put a title or any journaing on it. I might have to go back and add a little something.

I've really been into gray, yellow, and blue pages lately. I think that color combo is very relaxing. Anyways, the main piece of paper I used is from the Follow Your Heart collection by My Mind's Eye. Then I used lots of very random bits that I had laying around.

Monday, October 29, 2012

So back in time I go to scrapbook some photos of Moose at four months. I managed to get five photos on this page. I always like to cram as many photos on a page as I can, but it's hard to find inspiration for pages with five or more photos or to figure out how to get so many photos on a page without being overwhelmed. Of course after I make this page I find one photo that I really wanted to add hiding under my papers.

Friday, October 26, 2012

My daughter was in need of a new trick-or-treat bag since her old one fell apart. She is still little so it doesn't need to hold much, so I made this cute bat bag. I made it in one night while my little monster was hanging off of me by my arms and neck. And here is how you can make one to in the size you need.

Supplies:

-Felt in black, gray, pink, and green (I used the rectangles from my local craft store. I used three sheets of black and two gray. The pink and green were scraps I had.)

-Floss in pink, green, and black (to sew mouth, ears, and eyes)

-Black sewing thread and a sewing machine

Steps:

First you need to figure out how big of a bag you want to make. I finally decided that I like the smallest circle and that has a diameter of 5 1/2 inches.

You need to make three circles. On two of the circles you need to add ears. The third circle can be set aside for a while. Make a U on a piece of scrap paper for the ears as a template then cut it out and trace where you want it on your bat circle heads. You also need to make four wings and cut them out. Use a silver Sharpe to trace with because it works great on black felt. I'll try to upload my pattern soon, but you can totally free hand it. While you are cutting, cut a black rectangle for the basket part that is four inches wide. If your circle is 5 1/2 in diameter like mine then you need to make it 11 inches long. The length is determined from the circumference from the bat ear to ear. You will also need another rectangle for the handle or you can use some ribbon or even rope.

Now on one of the circles with ears you will want to make a cute bat face. I traced quarters for the eyes and I traced nickles for the cheeks. I sewed them on, but you could just use some fabric glue. I did embroider a cute little smile, but you can also draw on on with a black sharpie marker.

Next you want to sew your wings. Leave an opening to stuff them a little bit. I let my little monster stuff them.

Now you will want to go and sew the wings onto the bat head. Then sew the two bat head parts together, but leave a small opening to add a little fluff in it. You should end up with a cute bat stuffy that just needs it's basket part.

To add the basket you need to sew that 4 inch wide rectangle piece. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the process so you'll just have to settle with after shots. This is when my monster decided to hang from my neck as I sewed instead of nicely sitting next to me. You will sew from ear to ear. Remember that other gray circle? You have to sew that on and it should make a nice basket. I hope that makes sense. I tend to not pin things in place at all and just kind of attack my sewing. Anyways, then sew a handle on and you're done.

Monday, October 22, 2012

It's not easy having all of our family on the other side of the country. I have this photo of my mom and Moose that I just love and had to scrapbook. The wooden shoes my daughter is wearing used to be my oma's shoes. She actually used to wear them and I love how they are just so smooth on the inside.

It's a simple page and I used mostly papers from echo park's everyday eclectic. I did add this cute handmade crochet flower that wasn't made by me. I wish I could crochet, but every attempt of mine has ended in a big knot mess

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

So I made another Halloween page. I had so many pictures of Moose that I had to make another page. This one is kind of crazy because I made a big black frame and raised it up around the pictures. I didn't plan on it being so tilted, but it kind of stuck its self down.

Of course I had to use more pom-pom ribbon. I also made some paper fringe and lots of cute embellishments.

Friday, October 5, 2012

There is nothing like scrapbooking last year's Halloween photos to get you in the fall mood. I forgot how little hair Moose had a year ago.

This page is a fun one. It is very 3-D. It's hard to tell, but the photos are raised up. Since the pom-pom ribbon is so 3-D, I could raise the photos and other elements. I'll have to use a lot spacers when I put this page in Moose's scrapbook!

Friday, September 28, 2012

So I got a good deal on Moose's Halloween costume, which is great because I didn't really want to spend a lot of time making one. She absolutely is in love with it and will wear it every day, but it lacked that extra something. Oh, and it was a little on the short side. It was supposed to be a dress, but it was more like a long shirt for my very tall toddler. So I dug up some tulle that I had left over from my wedding and started to make a tutu for it. It came out so cute and puffy! She loves to be a little monster even more! I just hope it doesn't wear out in the next month.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

I have to start by saying that I am in love with how this page turned out. I had been wanting to do a gray, yellow, and blue layout for a long time. I've been having a hard time finding simple gray paper and a few weeks ago I finally had found some.

It is much easier to read my journaling in person. I used a blue pen so it is subtle and wouldn't distract from the page. I also only used one colored photo. If I did all three in color the yellow and blue elements would have been lost.

I didn't have a lot of yellow papers and embellishments to work with. The title was cut out on white paper and then misted yellow. I also misted the yellow polka dots underneath the colored photo since I couldn't find any more papers in the right yellow shade. At least I have a bunch of yellow ribbon!

Wouldn't you know the paper girl's challenge that is going on right now is baby. What perfect timing!

Friday, September 14, 2012

I've been wanting to scrapbook these photos for awhile and now I've finally gotten around to it. I just love how chill Moose it in them. It is a clean and simple page with just some paper cut outs. The simpleness led me to do a lot more journaling on this page then I normally do. It's a winter page, but I actually used some Halloween paper on it. The clouds come from the too cute to spook collection by Bella BLVD. I also used papers from Echo Park's Everyday Eclectic collection and Recollections All Girl Collection.

I didn't use too many embellishments. I just added some jewel sparkle on my journaling and another jewel sparkle heart on the lower right of my page. Plus one little bird for some fun.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

So a few days ago I posted this picture but realized that I spelled dandelion wrong as I was uploading the photo. So I went back to my page to try and fix it. Well, that stupid y was really glued down well. I was able to lift some of it off ok, but then my page started to come up with it. Well in an attempt to mask it, I got out my watercolors and made some blobs. First, I made one onto that spot that tore up and then some others so it would look more like it was supposed to be on the page. It looks really obvious in this photo, but when you have the page in front of you it doesn't look too bad.

I thought I would share some close up photos of the details of the page. In spite of my spelling debacle, I still really love how this page came out.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

We are about to go on a mini camping vacation within our vacation so I wanted share this outdoor page that I did just a little bit ago. This is the first of what I expect to be many hiking pages. With that in mind, I didn't want to use a lot of the typical outdoor brown tree paper.

I made this page with hidden journaling and did lots of sewing on it.

This page has lots of layers and I had a fun time cutting out images from some of my papers.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

This is really kind of a silly page. I used the colors of my daughters hat when picking out papers for this page. I didn't have any dark blue paper so I got out my markers and did some coloring.

I know the title seems a little strange, but the upper right photo just reminds me of an Ewok so much.

I used purple folded ribbon at the top of the photos and looped blue ribbon on the bottom. I was almost done with this page when I went to get the mail and my friend had sent me a birthday package filled with scrapbooking goodies. I knew I needed to use something from it so I added the little pink flower jewel on the bottom of the photo. I also used the bird washi tape and I've been waiting a while to use it.

Friday, August 3, 2012

I have had these pictures sitting on my desk just waiting to be scrapbooked for a while now. When I saw the challenge on The Paper Girls blog, I knew that these pictures were perfect for it. I don't do challenges too often. Mostly I never can finish them before the deadline, but often I don't have the right pictures for the theme, the right materials on hand that they call for, or I'm just not feeling the sketch or layout at the time.

I love the details of this page. The challenge required the use of mesh. I used some as a backing for my main photo. I did lots of stitching and had lots of fun cutting out frames for the photos. I made the little green flag and cut out the hippo and leaf from some more paper. I also used a monkey brad by the title that I've been wanting to use for a long time. It's a little crazy pattern wise, but I love it!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

So I've been playing around with my scrapbooking again. This is a simple page that acknowledges Moose's first steps. I just love the bright happy blue with the bright pink and yellow.

I put lots of doodles on this page. I guess I was just in a doodle mood. I put a partial doodle boarder with dashes and zigs. Then added some flowers and some lines and put in a few clouds and a sun been missing the sun and summer warmth. I woke up to a house that was 65 degrees...berrrr. I almost wanted to turn the heat on, but I just couldn't get myself to do it.

I decided to put my journaling in a little mini book I made. Moose got really excited about it being a "baby" book. Anything that is little is a "baby" right now. We have baby pancakes, baby blueberries, baby tissues and the list just goes on and on.

About Me

I like to try lots of crafty things, but mostly I stick to scrapbooking, clay, and painting. I'm starting to learn to sew too. I love to juggle and play handbells. My daughter she is making life crazy fun and little brother is melting our hearts.